It is known, e.g. from Austrian Pat. No. 290,162 and German utility model No. 1,814,231, to design such objectives with two stationary components and one movable component, i.e. an axially fixed positively refracting front component, an axially shiftable negatively refracting intermediate component and an axially fixed positively refracting rear component or basic objective. These prior-art constructions, with the shiftable component represented by a single biconcave lens, have yielded varifocal ratios of not more than about 1.7:1.